Jeffrey Sachs: The President Shouldn't Be On Vacation While The Markets Are In "Deep Crisis," Says Obama Never Had A Plan For The Economy

Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs criticised President Barack Obama for taking a vacation to Martha’s Vineyard this week as the global markets are in turmoil.

“So we’re almost three years into this administration and there’s never been a plan and that’s what everybody feels,” Sachs said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today. “The president didn’t lead. He waited.”

Sachs said he though Obama’s decision to go on vacation was “pretty odd,” adding, “I wouldn’t care about such things, but the world markets are in deep crisis. It’s no joke, this isn’t just an August up and down little blip, this is a very serious situation.”

The statements, from the liberal-leaning economist who backed Obama in 2008, were quickly picked up by the Republican National Committee as a ‘we told you so’ moment.

More from Sachs:

“So we’re almost three years into this administration and there’s never been a plan and that’s what everybody feels. The president didn’t lead. He waited. The quintessential image sadly of the administration that I supported and hoped for much better is the president waiting by the phone to hear what Congress calls to tell him. It doesn’t work in this country that way, it’s not a matter that it’s August, it’s a matter that it’s August 2011. So we’ve been drifting for a very long time and we’ve been drifting down now. And we had a short term plan that failed. A short term stimulus that was supposed to get the economy back on track but it failed. And now we have nothing behind it. And we have no agreements and no leadership and frankly, I do think it’s pretty odd the president’s on vacation right now. Normally, I wouldn’t care about such things, but the world markets are in deep crisis. It’s no joke, this isn’t just an August up and down little blip, this is a very serious situation.”